New Year is one of those magical times when, after careful analysis, people tell themselves what they should do and some lucky few actually stick to the plan.
As the year ends, everything seems possible and everyone feels empowered to make a positive change in their life. With your best interest in mind, we compiled a list of reasonable and perfectly relatable New Year's resolutions you may aspire to accomplish in 2016.
While you will not find health resolutions, such as "Lose 10 pounds by March" or "Spend more time with your family," on this list, those of you who are technology-oriented should get the most out of the index below.
1. Leave your phone behind while you eat. In fact, turn off all electronics that are not vital to the cooking process.
2. Be mindful of the number of gadgets you constantly carry. Save time, space, and energy and limit yourself to three. A smartphone, a laptop and an MP3 player should get you through the day just fine.
3. Invest two extra minutes into checking your grammar, as proper spelling or wording can do wonders. Also, it shows respect for the reader.
4. Be nice to your tech support. Most of them work on Christmas and New Year's Eve so you can binge-watch Netflix.
5. Clean up your cupboard storage space as well as your hard drive. Cast away old devices, empty the recycle bin. Get rid of old photos that you did not check for months. Delete the ex-GF or ex-BF folder.
6. Create original content and share it with the world. If you have the hardware for it, learn how to use it and push its limits – hard. Don't limit yourself to standard lolcats with captions. Take slow-motion aerial drone footage of cats running after butterflies. On fire. Spread the joy.
7. Take less pictures of your food and more time to enjoy it. Learn how to cook dishes from various cultures.
8. Remember that phones used to be calling mechanisms. Five minutes of conversation can organize things better than 30 minutes of texting, not to mention how much human "touch" a voice can transmit.
9. How many birthdays do you remember by heart?
10. Few things are braver than going on long walks without your phone. Get in touch with the voices in your head. Convince them that you are right.
11. Stop blaming the gadget for behaving differently than you expect. Read the user manual before turning on the device.
12. Clean your browser history. If you don't, a benign search from a friend or a family member can turn into a very, very long and tiresome conversation.
13. Save some money by using public transportation. If that is not an option, give ride-sharing apps a chance: there is a big chance that Uber and Lyft work on your handset.
14. Pick a training buddy. It will either motivate you to stay in shape or shame you into working out. Either way, it's win-win.
15. How long has it been since you last changed your passwords?
16. Use the apps that improve your life, not those which make it easier. There is a difference between increased productivity and laziness.
17. Try out gadgets from different ecosystems. Both Apple fans and Android enthusiasts have a lot to learn from each other. And even from Windows Mobile, as 2015 clearly displayed.
18. Time is the only nonrenewable resource available. Use it wisely.
19. Avoid the trap of taking yourself too seriously. Goof around, do crazy stuff. You don't need an app for that.
20. Find new comedians to enjoy.
21. Add new items to your bucket list. Ideally, have as many items crossed off in the year that passed.
If you are curious about the best ways to actually check items off this list (or others), here are effective ways to keep up with your New Year's resolutions.
